But She's Burning Brighter
by thatsmyverb
Summary: Lily Evans did not expect James Potter to be the waiter at the Indian restaurant she's at with her family. Oneshot.


"Mate, guess who just sat down in your section," Sirius Black asked his adoptive brother and best friend.

"Who?" James Potter asked, looking a bit harried as he sorted through his orders.

"Lily Evans," Sirius said with a smirk.

James stopped suddenly. "You're kidding."

"I'm not," Sirius giggled gleefully. "Lily Evans and her family just sat down at a table on your side."

Sirius and James were the only waiters currently at the Indian restaurant that their parents owned. They had split the restaurant in half with an imaginary line so they'd know which tables they'd to wait on; the only exceptions were if all the customers sat on one side of the line.

"Who's Lily Evans?" Euphemia Potter asked as she opened the door to the kitchen.

"The girl that Prongs has a crush on," Sirius explained.

"I do _not_ fancy Lily Evans!"

"Mmm-hmm," both Euphemia and Sirius said at the same time, looking for a moment that they were biologically related.

"Mom! You don't even know who she is or what she looks like. How would you know?"

"I'm your mother, dear. I know everything. How do you know Lily Evans?"

"She's doing Business as well, she's in a lot of my lectures."

"What's she like?"

Seeing James look rather uncomfortable with the question, Sirius jumped in. "She's in some of my classes; I think she's quite nice. She's hilarious and quite pretty- objectively speaking." Euphemia nodded like she approved. Then Sirius dropped the bomb. "She hates Prongs though."

"James!" Euphemia exclaimed. "What did you do?"

"Why are you assuming I did anything?" James asked, annoyed, going back to sorting his orders.

"To be fair to James, it was a huge misunderstanding. Snape was being a prat about the usual stuff, and James stepped in to defend me. Evans used to be friends with Snape and while she doesn't like him any more, she only came half way through the argument. From her point of view, it looked like Prongs was in the wrong."

"Oh, that's okay then," Euphemia said, smirking at her bio-son. "Finish up with whatever you're doing and go be a good little waiter." James rolled his eyes. "I need to check on the Lamb Rogan Josh."

* * *

Lily Evans was sure that by the end of the night she was going to stab someone with her fork.

She and Petunia weren't exactly on speaking terms, but she was still happy for her sister, who had just gotten engaged. Her parents decided to take the five of them out to a celebratory meal- five including Petunia's drab groom-to-be. They chose the Indian restaurant that had gotten amazing reviews but hadn't gone to yet, despite it being open for years. Lily was okay with that, she quite liked Indian food.

She did not like Vernon.

Vernon Dursley was just about the most boring person Lily had ever met. He seemed to have no hobbies, no interests and no aspirations except to get rich. Her parents were happy as long as Petunia was happy, but Lily guessed that they couldn't help but wish Petunia was marrying someone more interesting.

Since Petunia and Vernon had arrived that afternoon, Petunia hadn't asked Lily a single thing about how she was doing or how college was or anything. And Lily knew that they weren't exactly best friends any more and Petunia _did_ have massive news, but a quick 'how are you?' wouldn't have gone astray.

Lily pulled opened the menu and flicked through it, trying and failing to block out Petunia, who was already taking about bridesmaids dresses and themes for the wedding.

"Hello, my name is James and I'll be your server this evening. Is there a special occasion tonight?"

Lily gaped up at the waiter; James Potter. He was wearing black jeans and a black shirt. His hair was slightly tamer, but apart from that, he looked the same. Same round glasses, same hazel eyes, same dark skin, same lanky figure. She had no idea that he worked in the Indian restaurant; not that there was any reason for her to know- they didn't talk.

"Yes, actually," Rose Evans said excitedly, clapping her hands. "My daughter Petunia is getting married!"

"Congratulations!" James Potter said, smiling brightly.

Lily stared at him. She'd only seen him smile mischievously, constantly looking like he had done something wrong; she would be lying if she said he didn't look unfairly good-looking all the time. But him, grinning in front of her, was making her stomach feel slightly swoopy.

"I'm assuming you're the lucky man?" James asked, turning to Vernon.

"Yes" Vernon replied gruffly, looking both chuffed and annoyed at the same time.

"You know what?" James said. "First round of drinks are on the house."

"Thank you so much," Rupert Evans said, smiling broadly.

"Speaking of," James segwayed. "I'll take your drinks order and come back with those and then you can order your food. How does that sound?"

"I'll have a glass of red wine," Mrs. Evans said.

"We have Merlot, Cabernet, Pinot Noir and Grenache," James recited.

"I'll have the Merlot, please."

James nodded and wrote that down on his notepad before turning to Petunia. "I'll have the same, please."

"Of course. And for you, sir?" James turned to Lily's dad.

"I'll just stick to water, I'm driving," he smiled.

"I'll have the Kingfisher," Vernon interrupted, not even bothering to wait for James to ask him. Whether James noticed or not, he didn't show and instead turned to Lily.

"What fizzy drinks do you have, sorry?" Lily asked, feeling slightly childish.

"We have Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero, as well as Sprite, Fanta and Club Lemon," James told her with a smile.

"Are you not going to have a drink Lily?" her mother asked.

"No thanks, I think I'll just have Coke. Who knows what I'll do if I have a drink," she said, muttering the last part to herself. She didn't think anyone had heard her, but she could she James's smile turn into his trademark smirk, and when he spoke again, it sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

"Just a regular Coke?" he asked.

"Yes please," she said, feeling slightly mortified.

He added that to the list and smiled at the group. "I'll be right back with your drinks."

"He was very nice," Rose said as soon as James was out of earshot. "Five free drinks? That was very nice of him. What did he say his name was?"

"James," Lily replied automatically. She tried not to blush when the entire table turned to look at her.

* * *

"How did it go?" Sirius asked, as soon as James re-entered the back room.

The back room was what they called the space between the kitchen and the rest of the restaurant. It's where James and Sirius usually hung out between taking orders and serving orders, without being in their mother's way. It was also the place where the fridges of drinks were kept, which James was thankful for, since it kept his back to Sirius while he answered.

"It was fine," he answered evenly. "Don't know what exactly you're expecting." He straightened up and turned around, Coke in hand, only to find that his nosy mother was after sticking her head in from the kitchen just to listen.

"Half expected you to trip over something- your feet or your words, I'm not picky," Sirius said with a smirk.

"Excuse me mate," James said, mock-offended. "I'm a better waiter than you are."

"Just 'cause you've been doing it longer?" Sirius snorted. "Experience does not equal talent." At this, Sirius flicked his silky hair over his shoulder. "I got all the charm."

"Excuse you," James replied, focusing on pouring the Merlot. "I was practically spoon-fed charm with all my meals."

"It's true," Euphemia said with a twinkle. "I did raise James quite well." Both James and Sirius turned and stared at her. "What?" she asked.

"Did you just side with me... over Pads?" James asked in disbelief.

Euphemia tutted loudly. "I like ganging up on James as much as the next person, but I'm not going to insult my own child-rearing skills."

Sirius laughed loudly at that, as James scowled and grabbed glasses for the Evans's table. "Don't know why I put up with you two, honestly," he said, sticking his nose the air jokingly. "By the way mum, I've given the Evans table first round of free drinks."

Sirius barked out another round of laughter. "I knew you'd do something foolish as soon as you saw her."

James crossed his arms indignantly, sulking slightly. "Give me some credit, please. Her sister just got engaged and they're out celebrating. I was being a perfect gentleman."

"Well, I'm glad of that at least," Euphemia said, before disappearing back into the kitchen.

"Padfoot, will you carry the pitcher of water and two of the glasses with ice please," James asked patiently. Immediately, Sirius placed the named items onto a tray and balanced it on his hand. No matter how much they teased and messed with each other, they always helped with their job.

There was also the factor that Sirius was bored, since it was a Monday night, which meant it was pretty quiet. And most importantly, he never missed a chance to see James mess up in front of Lily Evans.

* * *

Lily almost did a double take when she saw who was coming out of the kitchens. James Potter- accompanied by Sirius Black! She groaned internally; she had already been having a bad night.

Lily watched them closely. Sirius- who was wearing the same thing as James- seemed to be saying something to his best friend, and James scowled at him in reply. Just before he reached her table, James seemed to flick a switch on his face and his friendly smile was back.

They reached the table and worked in perfect sync as the placed glasses down and poured drinks. After the job was done, Sirius hovered around, and Lily caught James shooting him a dirty look. Sirius seemed to take the hint, because he pouted playfully before disappearing back into the kitchen. Glancing around the table, Lily noticed that she was the only one who saw this interaction. She glanced back up at James who winked at her before facing Mr. Evans.

"Are you ready to order or do you need more time?" James asked pleasantly.

Lily stared down at her menu and avoided eye contact with James as he took their order. It was only when he turned to her that she looked back up at him. He was half-smirking, half-smiling at her, and she tried desperately to rein in her blush. She told him her order with as much confidence as possible, hoping her family wouldn't notice the red spreading around her neck. James flipped his notebook closed with a snap and walked away, a small smile on his face.

* * *

As James looked towards the door to the back room and saw Sirius and his mother watching him from the rounded windows. As soon as they saw that he had spotted them, they ducked their heads out of view. He practically could _hear_ them giggling behind the door and he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"May I ask why you were acting out a scene from The Parent Trap?" he asked, sort of annoyed.

His mother got the reference and collapsed into a round of giggles, like a young girl. Sirius, however, did not. "The what?"

"Don't tell me you've never seen The Parent Trap?" James asked, aghast, while handing over the order to his mother, who headed into the kitchen.

"No?" Sirius asked, looking uncertain as to why James looked so shocked.

"It's a Lindsay Lohan classic! Unacceptable!"

* * *

The next day, James came into his business lecture slightly early. He had a cup of coffee in one hand, and if it weren't for the caffeine, he'd probably have fallen asleep on the bus over. He slumped over his desk, his hand curled around his coffee.

Since Monday was usually the quietest day, it was the day that James did the books for the restaurant. He was a business major, so he found it easy enough, if a bit boring. And on top of that, he had forced Sirius to watch The Parent Trap with him. So with everything said and done, it was the early hours of the morning before he was able to wrap himself up in his duvet and fall asleep.

"Well, doesn't someone look like death?" a familiar voice said from behind him.

"I feel like death Evans," James said, turning in his seat to look at her. This was weird for him. Well, not the seating arrangement- he was very much aware that Lily Evans sat behind him in their morning lecture. It was the 'talking to him' part that was putting him off.

"Out late drinking?" she asked teasingly.

He snorted. "Quite the opposite."

"And what's the opposite of staying out late and getting drunk?" she asked him.

"Staying in and doing the books for the restaurant. And then staying up late to watch The Parent Trap with Sirius."

Lily laughed leaving James mesmerised by the sound. He shook himself out of it before she noticed and stopped talking to him. "I never knew you and Sirius worked in the Indian."

"Might have escaped your notice Evans, but we don't exactly talk that often," he pointed out, instantly regretting it.

She winced. "That's probably my fault. You were always nice to me and I was always rude to you."

James was a bit shocked at the apology and instantly waved it away. "Don't worry about it Evans. It's alright."

"It's really not though," she said, biting her lip.

James tried his hardest not to follow the movement. "How about we start over? I'm James Potter."

She laughed again. "I'm Lily Evans."

"Nice to meet you Evans," he replied, before turning around in his seat again as Professor McGonagall swept into the room.


End file.
